[inertiatic]

Memes in the form they took on on 4chan definitely weren't a thing before.

The word meme itself was a sterile almost scientific term.

I'm not sure how old are you, but if you were around at the time this happened (early to mid 00s) and active on imageboards you would surely have noticed just how different the experience was.

[fingerlocks]

My memory is the word being used quite often as any “contagious idea”. It started to became synonymous with “tired internet joke” in the late 90s with dancing baby, then cemented 2001 with the someone-set-us-up-the-bomb video.